The Straits Times Podcasts S1E7: Cryptocurrency scams: Not just those in their 20s to 30s fall prey - even the elderly are targeted
Synopsis: This is a special-edition podcast series by The Straits Times to raise greater public awareness of the modern scourge of scams in Singapore and globally.
In Singapore, nearly $1 billion has been lost by scam victims since 2016. Mutating and spreading, different types of scams have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from romance to work. The police are cracking down on offenders. What can you do to protect yourself?
In the series’ seventh episode, ST’s crime correspondent David Sun, business correspondent Claire Huang, and journalist Jessie Lim speak with Fiona Choong, vice president of compliance at cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako.
Ms Choong covers the common kinds of scams involving cryptocurrency and what precautions cryptocurrency users can take against them.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:18 How a man in his 70s fell prey to a ‘tech support’ scam, and how his life savings of over S$400,000 was saved
5:50 Most active crypto customers are in the 20 to 30 age range; risk rules and safeguards covering various ages
11:00 Know-your-client (KYC) and financial literacy standards: How to uphold them, especially in Singapore?
18:20 Are there scams involving cryptocurrency giveaways, also known as ‘drops’, a marketing strategy that involves sending coins or tokens to wallet addresses?
26:40 Constantly evolving products such as non-fungible tokens and Web 3.0 a challenge for compliance officers when detecting scams
28:25 Love scam uncovered: When a man tried to withdraw a large amount of crypto to purportedly buy a piece of property for his ‘girlfriend’
32:07 Measures to take to avoid falling to cryptocurrency scams: how fear, greed and loneliness are exploited by scammers
Read ST's Stop Scams articles: https://str.sg/wWt9
- Anti-Scam Hotline: 1800-722-6688 (9am - 5pm); https://www.scamalert.sg/
- National Care Hotline: 1800-202-6868 (8am - 12am); https://ccs.org.sg/nch/
Produced by: Jessie Lim (ljessie@sph.com.sg), David Sun (davidsun@sph.com.sg), Claire Huang (claire@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis and Eden Soh
Edited by: Eden Soh
Follow Stop Scams podcast series here:
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Websites: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
David Sun's articles: https://str.sg/wWty
Jessie Lim's articles: https://str.sg/wWtF
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All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7
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Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX
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Special edition series:
True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T
The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2
Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn
Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB
Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa
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